This study focuses on the recovery process of 85 alcoholic women residents in a half-way house in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Working with a definition of alcoholism which recognizes psycho-social factors as contributory features in the natural history of the condition, we hypothesized that there is the probability that recovery is also affected by societal norms and values. Years of alcoholic drinking and suffering the consequences of a stigmatized status have provided the substance and meanings for behavioral codes and patterned plans of action which distinguish alcoholic women from other groups in our society. This interpretative study of recovery attempts to unravel or decode the meaning systems of alcoholic women in the transitional stage between active alcoholism and sobriety. Using a multi-methodological approach of data gathering which includes participant observation, social network information, and non-scheduled standardized interviews, we have obtained demographic information, treatment and drinking histories, data to evaluate the concept of precipitating cause of the onset of alcoholism in women's re-definition of self in the process of recovery. A follow-up system which relies upon a community methods approach of data gathering has been developed and put into operation.